Ten years ago, I would speak differently on this subject. However, it seems 
everything that was taught to me during Drivers Ed ceases to exist. There is an evaporation of manners happening. Take one second to realize it; think about a time recently when you experienced another driver merging onto the freeway seamlessly. You can’t, it is extinct. Every driver that throttles through the on ramp into traffic has no clue of their surroundings. Every car is driven by Honey Boo Boo. Here I am world, accept me. I am beginning to think it is a reflection of society.
America’s manners are deteriorating. If some jackass does something inconsiderate, we are supposed to deal with it. No apologies. The masses are just left with phrases like: “I am the type of person that is going to get in your face if you tell me I am a bad merger.” They know that level headed people aren’t going to challenge them. So, swerving out of the way, you cuss them out. Knowing full well it doesn’t fucking matter. That person got what they wanted and you are left with frustration. They are now on the freeway, completely unfazed you are tailing them beat red in the face. They don’t give a shit. Trust me; I’ve driven with these animals.
“You just cut that guy off.” – Me
“So.” –Driver.
Then we just kept on driving. No curtsey wave. No open hand into closed hand shit, I am sorry gesture. We just kept driving. Rules of the road are evaporating right before us. Don’t expect a downpour of good manners to follow, this shit-spiral of a trend is only going to get worse. Other than merging, here is a short list of more road manners evaporating:
- Thank you wave
- Blinkers
- “No…you go first” gesture
- Looking behind you before backing up
- Oh shit, that was my fault face.
In an effort to save time and patience I won’t expand on all of them. Although they are a major problem. Granted, I am old school. My seventy year old grandpa taught me how to drive, and subsequently, the unwritten rules of the road. He was a courteous driver, and a smart driver. Yet he got where he needed to go in a timely manner. Not only are these idiots driving with no manners, they are driving like they have no where to be. As if, they got in their car with the intention of darting in front of you; then going at or below the speed limit. Nobody drives with a purpose. It’s like they are on the road to waste time before they can stuff their faces with Arby’s again. I always assumed that people led boring lives. However, are they so boring that they would prefer to get home at 35 MPH oppose to the 45 MPH posted speed limit? It’s like every one of these drivers have the worst directions ever to a house they have never been to before.
These are the things that haunt me. They are uncalled for. At first, I thought that I was losing it. That there were no way drivers were getting worse in the ten years that I have been on the road. I thought, Jake, you just hate everything. Get over it. Smile; let these lovely people take their time getting to where ever the fuck they need to go. However, I started taking data. I started counting how many times I got cut off, how many times I witnessed a piss poor merge. They started adding up.
Example: I was driving in the right line, with my cruise control set to six miles over the speed limit. I noticed a run down Plymouth Voyager on my starboard; he wanted to merge onto the freeway. I knew it, he knew it. However, he didn’t merge. He wanted to play chicken. I kept my cruise control locked, which prohibited him from immediate access. He then honked his horn and flicked me off. He is at fault. I should have been doing the honking, not him. We do not need to merge with him, he needs to merge with us. It’s our freeway, we need to take it back.
It’s called merging. Not “you come onto the freeway anyway you want.” Everyone keeps talking about how Americans are constantly in a hurry. Whelp, not on the roads and streets of Wisconsin. No one has deadlines here; no one in Wisconsin has anywhere to be.
If you think I am being harsh, I ask you one question.
How many times have you been in a traffic jam only to realize NOTHING was causing it?
Conch Potatoes 